Online marketing is all the rage these days. You can’t have a successful business – even a small local one — without a website and all the trimmings. But if you think that means direct mail postcards are outdated, it’s time to think again. We’re going to let you in on a little secret – postcards are hotter than ever with savvy local business marketers. For good reason.
Postcards are timeless.
Just because something has been around a long time doesn’t automatically make it outdated. Some things endure because they have fundamental value. And that’s just the case with direct mail postcards. They worked well to market local businesses long before the Internet was invented, and they work just as well now. Even better in many respects, because your prospects can touch them as well as see them.
In the old days, direct mail postcards worked to attract new customers or clients or patients because there wasn’t much else available to local businesses other than newspaper advertising or maybe radio ads. Postcards worked because they put marketing messages right into prospects’ hands.
Today, most traditional advertising is too expensive for local businesses — and more on point, people find it intrusive and irritating instead of valuable. They deliberately ignore it. But people still love to get postcards, so postcards just keep on delivering your message right into your prospects’ hands.
Postcards have cachet.
Postcards always deliver good news, have you noticed? No wonder they’re held in such high esteem. And while it’s fun to get a postcard from Great Aunt Tilly who’s on vacation at the Grand Canyon, let’s face it. Your prospects would just as soon get your postcard offering them a great deal on something they want. That’s a message that really resonates.
Postcards are fresh, and refreshing.
They look good, and they make your recipients feel good. They’re open and inviting – your prospects can readily see who you are and what you have to offer without having to open an envelope. Successful postcards are eye-catchingly colorful and bright, standing head and shoulders above anything else in the mailbox.
Depending on your type of products or services, the message and offer your postcards deliver can make your prospects feel excited, surprised, even relieved because you have what they want, or what they need, right when they’re looking for it. You know them, and you’re speaking their language.
That’s a personal invitation to do business with you that’s hard to resist, and it’s especially meaningful in today’s environment where potential customers expect you to understand and care about them. Even if you use a recipient (sometimes called “occupant”) mailing list, postcards feel personal. They are simply irresistible.
Postcards are multi-talented.
Most local businesses use direct mail postcards to generate an ongoing supply of new customers. It’s easy to send repeat mailings once a month or so, to build your branding and ensure your message and contact information are there when your prospect is ready to respond.
You can use postcards for short-term campaigns, too – to solicit referrals, announce a new colleague or product, promote your annual sale or win back lapsed customers.
Postcards are the perfect pairing with your online marketing.
While they’re ideal for calls to action that direct recipients to pick up the phone to make an appointment at your dental office or hop in the car and visit your restaurant or store, they are also ideal for driving traffic to your website. Simply include your web address – you always want to do that anyway – or use a QR code to boost your postcard’s “cachet component.”
So be bold. Think direct mail postcards.
Join the ranks of thousands of local business marketers across the country who aren’t afraid to act independently of the current “common wisdom.” Stand up and say with pride, “Yes! I use direct mail postcards to build my business because they work!”